HalfLife 2: Episode 3 and Beyond
by Peter Madsen
Summary: My own take on the possible events of Episode 3. *Spoilers* In the wake of Eli's death, Gordon and Alyx must continue on to the Borealis and whatever secrets it might hold. Some Gordon/Alyx. Discontinued.
1. AFTERMATH

Author's note: Well, first fan-fic. I've read a lot of the Half-Life fan fictions, and it's very possible that I outright plagiarized an idea without realizing it. If you see any idea or concept that feel you deserve credit for, just let me know. I've got chapters 2 and 3 done right now and I'm uploading them ASAP. Please, enjoy.

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Sobbing. All I could hear was sobbing, interspersed with short moments of silence and dull, unintelligible muttering. It continued on for what seemed like ages until it was interrupted by a voice that began filled with joy and pulled a 180 into shock. Then there were footsteps, small and far-away, then a stomp, followed by more footsteps that grew louder until it seemed as if a pair of boots were noisily sprinting up my ear canal.

There was some loud speech I couldn't make out, directed at me, it would seem. I felt the sensation of fingers on my neck, and then some otherworldly force lifted me up and began spinning me violently, as if I were on a personal centrifuge.

The voices suddenly started to come into focus. I could make out one near me and one further away- the latter was sobbing again, while the one near me seemed panicked. I heard a word peek through the garbled speech- Gordon. It stuck out for some reason, as if the despair in the voice was all compounded into that single word.

Gordon. Gordon. There was something significant in it, as if it were the key to everything. Gordon…

Freeman.

Suddenly my brain raced itself to recollect my thoughts- all that had transpired was nearly impossible to process. I had gone from a physicist to a revolutionary in what was, for me, a few days. Everyone was counting on me to save the planet when all I had ever tried to do was survive. I came back after a short 20 year nap and suddenly I was being idolized by people I didn't even know.

I flung my eyes open as the realization of what had just happened hit me. Barney was above me, a worried look on his face. I could see the beginnings of a smile grow on his lips, but the relief vanished from his face as Alyx sobbed again. She lay partially on Eli's body, letting her tears soak his shirt. Dog was laying next to her, his head a mere inch from her's, studying the strange emotion she was displaying.

"Gordon." Barney said solemnly, offering me a hand, which I gladly accepted. He effortlessly pulled me up, and made a gesture with his head toward Alyx. I wasn't sure how I was supposed to comfort her, so I clumsily shuffled towards her and put a hand on her shoulder. She didn't respond, so I pulled a little. She pulled herself up and buried herself in my shoulder and kept sobbing.

The door on the raised platform opened again, and my eyes shot there. Doctor Kleiner came in, followed by Doctor Magnusson, mid-conversation.

"Well I'm sure if we didn't have the Magnusson device we still could have ma- Oh my god, Eli!" Doctor Kleiner said, running forward. He disappeared behind the elevator for a moment before his head poked out again from the side. There was a loud noise of machinery grinding against itself as the elevator slowly descended. Kleiner rushed forward and bent over Eli's prostrate form as I pulled Alyx, who had begun to slide down my arm, back up.

We made a sad procession, walking in a line behind Barney, carrying Eli's body, until we reached the medical wing of White Forest. Doctor Kleiner said he would make sure Eli had a proper burial; Alyx and I would have to take his word for it, though. We had to find the Borealis, and time was the last thing we had now. The Combine knew where White Forest was, and every minute there the risk of a second attack grew.

I hadn't ever ridden in a helicopter, so my nerves weren't completely about me as the rotors warmed up. The pilot was a roughly middle-aged man, with gray sideburns and stubble on his chin.

I was surprised when a squad of Combine climbed into the back with us. One took his mask off, and I saw it was Barney. Alyx gave him a look in protest, which he acknowledged.

"We don't know what's gonna' be on that boat- you guys aren't goin' in alone." He said.

"But they'll know in a second that you aren't Combine, Barney." Alyx said. "You'll be in more danger than us."

Barney gestured toward the side of the helicopter- outside, the ground was getting further away; I hadn't even noticed the helicopter taking off.

"It's too late, Alyx. We're going with you. Now once we get on the bo-" he began, but he froze halfway in. Outside, the trees stopped shaking in the wind- the wind had stopped. Time, it seemed had stopped. When a blue-suited figure appeared just outside the cabin, I knew it really had.

"Your… friends were quite… troublesome, Mr. Freeman, but they… won't be bothering us again. No intervention…. is currently required, but our benefactors desired… I inform you that your friends… have no control over you." He said, still standing on thin air.

Everything began to turn black, and soon I could make out faint lights in the distance, shooting towards me- stars. We were flying through space at unfathomable speeds, hurtling towards into the unknown.

"You may continue… on your way, Mr. Freeman." He said, and walked away from the rapidly re-appearing helicopter. The darkness dissipated and I could hear Barney talking again. I wasn't sure how much time had passed, but to me it felt like it couldn't have been more than 10 minutes.

"… 'a there, okay?" he said, directing it at everyone in the back. "Gordon? You listening?"

"Gordon?" Alyx said, nudging me. Her eyes widened when she saw my face. "It was… it was _him_, wasn't it?"

I tried to answer, but the whole helicopter shook as it collided with some small, unseen object. I looked outside and saw we were flying over the ice-covered ocean, and little flurries of snow were drifting into the cabin only to melt when they hit the floor. Alyx, in a winter-jacket, was leaning on me, taking advantage of the HEV suit's warmth, while Barney was sweating. It hadn't ever occurred to me how stifling that Combine armor must be.

"We're hitting an ice storm." The pilot shouted from the cockpit. "I can't go in any further. The Borealis is just North of here, you shouldn't miss it."

With what seemed like a reckless amount of speed, we floated down and hovered just over the ice. Barney put a foot down and tested to make sure it was stable. It was, so we carefully piled out and began trudging toward the Borealis atop the gallant white chunks of ice.

"Gordon", she said, turning her head, "if something happens-"

"Don't start talkin' like that." Barney interrupted from ahead, turning around to face her. "We'll all be back at White Forest in no time, and that's it. End of discussion."

He turned back and put his mask on. Alyx turned back to me and grinned a little, which surprised me. For the sake of the mission she had forced Eli out of her mind. I couldn't, though. The grim scene replayed itself over and over, and every time I felt less and less confident about what we were getting into. If we ran into another of those things, we would be helpless.

I ran into Barney's back in my absence-of-mind; ahead of us, embedded deep in the ice was the biggest ship I'd ever seen. The top was stacked full of freight containers, and on the side of each, in worn white print, were the words _**'Aperture Laboratories'.**_ Barney and the other rebels put their masks on, and I instinctively began scanning what I could see of the ship for a possible entrance, or any sign of the combine. I didn't see any obvious entrance, of course. That would have made it too easy. The ship appeared lifeless, though, which was probably a good thing.

"Alright." Barney said, out of the blue, in an attempt to organize his thoughts. "Okay."

We all stood silent, waiting to hear whatever plan he might have concocted. He hadn't thought of any idea, of course, because there wasn't any obvious way onto the deck. It was so high that I would have sworn it had been lifted out of the water; it just couldn't sit that tall in the water. It seemed that any ship that colossal would just sink.

"Any ideas?" he asked, pulling his mask back off.

Silence, again.

"Let's circle around and see if there's another way up." One of the rebels suggested.

"That would take days." Alyx said quietly, gazing up towards the ship's deck. I could see she was coming up with a plan, and while Barney and the fake Combine argued about blowing a hole in the wall, the gears in her head were grinding.

"I can climb it."

My eyes widened so far that my eyeballs nearly fell out. The hull was coated in slick sheets of ice, and even if it were clear, there was no visible protrusion for her to grip. Barney agreed.

"Oh, no. No, no, no, no, no." he said, shaking his head. "You're crazy. Look, there's gotta'… I'm sure…"

He trailed off, obviously unable to think of any other way up.

"Well how the hell are the rest of us supposed to get up there?" he asked. One of the rebels chimed in to answer.

"There was a crane on top in Mossman's transmission. She could lower a freight box and pull us up.

No one said anything. As much as I wanted Alyx to stay there and just help us find a way up with less a chance of her getting killed, I wasn't sure we could last the cold trying to find a different way up, and if she was going to have to climb, it was better that she do it now, while she had the energy. Still, there _had _to be another way up.

"Gordon, give me your ice-pick." She said, interrupting my train of thought, and rather than wait for me to hand it to her, snatched it from my belt. At the same time, she reached under her coat and pulled out another. Without waiting for anyone's approval, she ran toward the hull of the ship, jumped, and buried the picks as deep into the ice as she could and held on. Then she pulled out the left pick, pulled herself up a bit and plunged it back into the ice.

Slowly she pulled herself up this way. It was almost painful to watch- if I let a few snowflakes stay on my face for more than a moment, they started to sting, and she didn't have the luxury of wiping her face off every few seconds.. At every moment I was waiting for a sickening creek as the ice cracked and fell from the hull, then having to dig through the snow and pull her dead body and wonder why I had let her do it.

Suddenly it seemed as if I had just had a premonition. There was a low groan, as if the ship was vibrating- Alyx took a quick glance down and suddenly I could see her panicking. Or at least I thought she was panicking, when she was forming another plan in her head.

Then she jumped. I gasped and ran forward, preparing to break her fall with my body or something. It wasn't the sort of thing you really thought about. Then she stopped falling and sort of swung around in the air. I looked around, wondering if the suited man had decided to show up again, but everyone was still breathing, looks of confusion etched on their faces.

I looked up too, and I could faintly make out a thin line falling from the deck- a wayward cable that happened to fall in just the right place. She was able to climb the cable much faster, using the hull of the Borealis as footing. It wasn't long before she disappeared over the top.

It was a good 10 minutes before we heard anything. I began to get worried- the Combine could've beaten us here. Waiting on top of the ship for the rebels to come to them. From this distance we just couldn't here the short gunfight.

My fears were put to rest when we heard a groan from the deck- shortly after, a red freight container swung around the side and started to descend towards us.

It didn't lower quite low enough- I had been worried that the crane's length of cable wouldn't be long enough for us to reach, but it hovered around 4 feet in the air. Barney tried to pry open the end, but it was locked. He seemed at a lost as to what to do, so I pulled my crowbar from my back and jabbed at a small bar near the center of the door. There was a soft click, and the doors swung open.

The container was full of pure white machines. They looked heavy, but we were able to pull a few out so we could all fit, leaving the majority of the container filled with the equipment. I fired a few shots into the air to signal the crane, and soon we were slowly being pulled up. Barney locked the door behind us just in case anyone slipped.

I turned the HEV's flashlight on so that we could see. We didn't have anything we really needed to see, but ever since Black Mesa I didn't enjoy the dark all that much. I heard a groan, almost inhuman, and looked around for the source.

"Shut up Dale. We're hot too." Barney said, and I shined the light on him to see him pulling at the neck of the Combine uniform to try and let some of the cold air in.

"That wasn't me." One of the Rebels, Dale I would assume, replied.

There was another groan, and I shined the flashlight towards the other end of the container to see a rotting hand attached to a rotting arm fall onto the top of one of the machines, leaving a sticky mess there. Then it fell, and there was a small thump. I raised my pistol towards the back, and let out a few shots as a headcrab jumped onto the machinery. It slumped over, dead.

We didn't have long to relax, however. Within moments more headcrabs were crawling across the machinery. All the fake Combine let loose with their SMGs, gunning them down, but in the cramped space it was hard to aim, and a few managed to crawl past the hail of bullets. One jumped towards me, but I deflected him with my crowbar with not a moment to spare before he connected with my face. I heard a panic to my left and shined the flashlight on one of the Rebels, wrestling with another headcrab.

He backed up and, by some misfortune, managed to his the door mechanism, releasing the lock, and he fell from the container. I noticed the machinery begin to shift as the balance of the whole container moved from the center. The machines were slowly inching towards us, and the gradient of the Container was increasing every second. We were just below the rim when the machines began to push us.

Time seemed to slow down as Barney haphazardly jumped from the container and hit the deck with a roll, shouting that we weren't gonna' make it.. The Rebels followed his lead, barely clearing the gap, and I waited for them so as not disrupt their jumps. Suddenly the machines completely lost their friction and pushed me out- I managed to push off the rim of the container and my upper body cleared the rim of the Borealis, but the rest of me was dangling over the edge. I grabbed at thin air as I started to slide from the railing, when something caught my hand- it was Barney.

"You're not goin' anywhere, Gordon." He said, smiling, and I couldn't help but do the same as I let the breath escape from my lungs.


	2. AURORA BOREALIS

I managed to scramble over the railing onto the deck of the Borealis with Barney's help and stopped to catch my breath. Alyx sort of stumbled over, still breathless from her harrowing climb. I looked up at her and smiled. We wouldn't have made it up if it weren't for her.

A look of confusion came on her face as she looked at us.

"Weren't there 8 of us?" she asked, and just as I was about to relay the details of what had transpired, Barney answered her.

"You crazy?" he asked, looking puzzled. "7 of us on the helicopter, 7 of us now."

Alyx still seemed confused but shrugged it off. I turned to look at Barney, confused myself, and I could tell from his expression that he had lied to protect her. The last thing she needed was the thought of another death on her shoulders.

As the rebels caught their breath, having jumped a 2 foot gap in heavy armor, I walked to Alyx and put a hand on her shoulder. She jumped a little, then turned to look at me, a smile on her face.

"For a second, I thought I wasn't going to make it. It was like something just… clicked and I saw the cable and I jumped just in time, but I wasn't really doing it… I was watching myself do it." she said, studying the gloves on her hands, which looked considerably worn after harrowing climb.

My eyes wandered around her body, memorizing her curves. She caught me, and we shared an awkward moment.

"I guess we should head to the bridge." She said, shattering the awkwardness, and sounding a bit deflated. I felt it too; I had thought that we would see what this weapon was as soon as we got onto the ship, as if some huge anti-combine warhead would just be jutting from the deck, asking to be launched.

We set off toward the bridge, meeting resistance from little but the slippery ice that seemed to coat everything. The deck wasn't populated by as many of the cargo containers as it seemed from the ice below- but even then it made a formidable maze to navigate. There was a headcrab every here and there, but the majority were dead- I figured the Combine had launched the headcrab missiles while the ship was en route to wherever it was headed, and it had simply drifted here when the crew was killed and zombified. By now, however, the zombies had surely all perished. I still didn't want to have to wander the corridors of this immense ship, though, as it looked easy to get lost in.

There was a railing around the bridge with a ladder that we used to climb up. We had to free ladder from its upright position, so we weren't wrong to assume the bridge was safe. The bridge seemed much bigger from the inside- it was empty, save for the stairs at the back. I led the way up them, and in the center of this room was a gray metal desk. On top was a large, flat monitor, hooked up to a small white computer that said 'Aperture Science' just beside it. On the other side was a small, chocolate-frosted cake, adorned with a few strawberries and a single candle. Below the desk was a small, comfy-looking office chair. At the front of the room, opposite the stairs was a giant window, the kind that replaced a wall rather than adorned it.

Barney headed to the large window and looked down at the deck while Alyx sat at the desk. I noticed the cake looked delicious but resisted the urge to eat it and kneeled next to Alyx to get a look at the monitor.

The screen was black- Alyx pushed the only button on the face of the computer, and it quietly whirred to life. I looked at the back and saw it wasn't plugged into anything. I tried to lift it to see if the cords were on the bottom, but it was heavy. I'm tempted to say that it was attached to the desk, but it didn't feel that way. It just felt heavy. It was strange that the computer turned on at all, though, considering none of the lights on the ship were working, at least topside.

The monitor flicked on and all it showed was a large blue circle in the center of the

now-white screen. Alyx looked confused and searched for a mouse or a keyboard, but none existed. The desk was more of a small table, and it didn't have any visible compartments.

She stood up from the chair and examined the desk for some hidden switch and I stared at the blue circle on the screen. It didn't look static- I moved closer and saw it appeared to be spinning. Like a lens coming into focus.

Not content that the computer might simply be broken, Alyx reached for the plate on which the cake rested, probably to cut herself a slice, I assumed. I would have to get a piece myself, as every moment it sat there it grew exponentially more appetizing. I managed to shake my focus from the cake and saw Barney was staring at it as well.

Just as her hand was about to touch the plate, a dark feminine voice, emitting from nowhere it seemed, began shouting. A white door sealed the stairs, and a little white turret jutted out from the ceiling in the corner of the room.

"What are you doing? That isn't your cake. That cake belongs to me. You don't deserve it. You've done nothing to deserve it. I should cut your dirty hand off. What if you had touched the cake with your filthy hand? You'd better watch your back because as soon as you're not expecting it I'm going to just cut it off. How does that make you feel? I bet it makes you feel bad." The voice said. It continued on, but I couldn't hear it over the growing panic in our group.

"What the hell?" Barney shouted, pointing his gun at the turret. The rebels seemed to follow suit, but the threats their gun posed seemed to agitate the turret, and I could see a ball of energy begin to form at the end of it's short, rectangular barrel.

Barney began shooting at it, and soon the room was filled with the sounds of shooting. Alyx ducked her head and moved the corner of the room, apparently unable to cope with the stress of the situation. I had an idea and pointed my gun at the monitor. It didn't stop the turret, and a shot of energy flew out of it and landed in the chest of one of the fake combine. He keeled over, clutching his chest and starting screaming that it burned.

I got another idea and, after turning the monitor toward the computer, pointed the gun at the small white box. The turret's energy dissipated.

"Okay. I give up. Just give me my cake and I'll let you go." The voice said. I was confused for a moment before I saw that the cake was, in fact gone. I felt a bit of anger. who had stolen the cake? I wanted it. So I could give it to the computer-thing.

I turned and saw the rebels were too occupied with their fallen comrade to have taken it. Barney was bent over trying to see if whoever had been shot was okay.

I turned to the other corner and saw Alyx there, on her knees with the cake, trying to deduce in her head how she should cut it to maximize its delicious flavor, as well as what to cut it with.

She snapped out of it for just a moment and stood up, a horrified look on her face. She backed up slowly as if the cake held the answer to the universe and she just couldn't handle it.

I walked over slowly, resisting the desire to eat the cake while picking it up. The circle on the monitor, which had turned red in the short firefight, was now literally green with envy.

I heard a noise outside that was never good- a combine troopship. I turned and saw, through the giant window, the cake still in my hands, as a squad of Combine elites, clad in white, jumped from the under-slung cabin and started running toward the bridge. There were at least ten of them, and while we could surely take them, all of us would not emerge from the fight unscathed, especially with the preoccupation of the cake in the back of our minds.

"Combine!" Barney said, noticing them. "Gordon, make that computer thing use its turrets on 'em."

"Get rid of them? They'll probably kill you and then I'll have my cake." It replied vengefully. As much as it pained me, I pointed my pistol at the cake. The way I lined it up, had I pulled the trigger I would have shot my own hand. The circle on the monitor, however, was fooled.

"No!" It cried, and the circle turned to red as the voice lowered to a near growl. "Just don't hurt my cake."

I turned and saw the Combine making their way through the containers in a different path than we had taken, and I saw it was much faster. Their path was much simpler and straightforward, and it made me feel a little stupid for leading everyone around in circles.

Then they stopped. Perceiving a threat, they raised their weapons. I could see the blue glow of a turret charging up below the outside portion of the bridge, and the Combines' attempts to shoot it down met with the same results as ours had.

I saw, out of the corner of my eye, another turret, and I realized it was much larger than the one we had encountered. This was confirmed when the turrets fired in unison, taking out the entire squad of combine in addition to the top layer of deck they had been standing on in an enormous flash of blue.

There was no time for us to marvel, however, as I knew more combine would be on the way. We had to find the weapon quickly.

"Computer, is there some kind of weapon on this ship?" Alyx asked, following the same train of thought as myself.

"Weapon? This is a science ship. There's lots of science. No weapons though." It replied.

"Except the turrets." Barney said angrily. The rebels had given up on their comrade, who had stopped breathing 10 minutes earlier, leaving Barney with a bit of resentment towards the computer. Sensing his anger might carry over to the cake, I held it a bit more protectively and eyed him warily.

"Um… yes. Except those. I just forgot to mention those." It replied. Alyx wasn't fooled however, and pointed her gun at the cake. Once again, had she fired it I would have been shot, but it fooled the computer.

"Well I know how to make lots of weapons. Some of them can also be used as a shower curtain, provided you are small and roughly gun-shaped. I guess some could be used as weapons if you put your mind to it, but not really." It replied.

"Look, is there a weapon on this ship that we could use?" Barney asked, growing impatient. The whirring blades of helicopters could be heard approaching from all directions.

"Not yet." It said. Alyx was about to ask it to continue when the sound of gunshots filled the air. It was a combine gunship, firing on the bridge. The bullets bounced off the metal walls until it swung around to the window- the first few bullets were stopped by the thick glass, but after that the glass shattered into a million pieces. I shoved the desk and it fell over, the white box making a loud thud as it hit the floor. The monitor broke as it collided with the floor, causing the colors on the screen to warp. I gently set the cake down and peered over the edge of the table to get a feel on the gunship's position.

The fake combine flew down the stairs when the gunship stopped to cool its gun. One had a laser-guided rocket launcher and needed to get in a more open position so that he could maneuver the rocket. The turret from the ceiling had descended again and was now pointed at the gunship. The next volley knocked it down, but I saw the energy was still gathering at the tip of the barrel.

I scrambled to grab it before the gunship filled me with bullets, but stopped momentarily when the entire Borealis seemed to shake. I peeked over the bullet-filled table again and saw the gunship sputter in the air after the explosion of the rocket. I took the momentary opening and jumped to my feet, leveling the smooth, white gun with the gunship. The energy had been charging for a good deal longer than last time, and I hoped it didn't backfire, or rather really needed it not to backfire.

Finally feeling like the shot was lined up, I pulled the trigger. The recoil propelled me backward, where my head collided with the wall.


	3. CAVALRY CHARGE

Battle filled my ears when I came back into consciousness, mixed with cries from Alyx for me to wake up. When I finally managed to pry my eyes open, I saw she was nearly on top of me, and here eyes were shiny, as if she'd been crying. When she saw that I had awoken, she looked away to wipe her eyes then turned back to me.

"Gordon, I-… I didn't… I…." She stuttered, and then just collapsed, digger her face into my chest. I rested my hand in her hair and even through the glove I could tell she hadn't had a shower in awhile. I, of course, was in no position to judge personal hygeine, however.

Suddenly the whole tower shook and I brought my head up in time to see the world leaning, about to turn on it's side. Alyx pushed up on her hands and turned around to see, but I grabbed her and held her tight as we rolled into the wall. Alyx quickly jumped from my arms and pulled me through the hole in the floor where the stairs were supposed to fit before the top portion could fall over entirely. The wall was warped from being stretched and the stairs had twisted in a way that made me feel a bit queasy as I ran down them.

From the second level I could more easily see the battle raging on outside. Small human airboats were carving through the ice, pelting the combine assault copters with turret-fire. Every few seconds a rocket from the deck of the Borealis would fly through the air into the side of a gunship or a troopship or just continue on towards the night sky. On the deck, the battle was hectic; Rebels and Combine were deploying right next to each other, trying to simultaneously fire and jump from whatever ship was carrying them. The stream of troops from both sides continued unabated, as combine troopships and foreign-looking helicopters carried soldiers into the fray.

My examination of the battle was cut short as a tug came at my arm- Alyx pulled me out of the trajectory of an incoming rocket. Rather than tear me apart, it continued onwards through the broken windows and into the night.

"Gordon, use your rocket launcher and help with the helicopters!" Alyx shouted as she leaned through the window and shot down a Combine soldiers. She ducked just as a flurry of bullets peppered the panel she was hiding behind, and, looking back at me, saw from my expression that I had lost the rocket launcher.

A combine helicopter, intent on flushing Alyx and I out of the bridge poured a stream of lead into the already structurally failing tower as it circled around, trying to find a shot. Suddenly a rocket, fired from a spot we couldn't see collided with its tail, sending it spinning out of control, directly for the bridge we were hiding in. I opened my mouth to warn Alyx, but the helicopter was closer than I thought- it collided with the top right side of the tower which at first simply caused the bridge to level out, but the momentum pushed it just out of balance and the already-weakened bridge began to tip the other way. Alyx and I didn't manage to get out. We were trapped as the whole bridge fell on its side, where it teetered precariously on the ship's edge, then slid off the ship entirely.

I was sure we were going to die. I held onto Alyx tightly, as I had done before, in the hope that at least she would come out in one piece. It was a rough ride, and the bits of glass that swirled around in the night wind cut my cheeks and made tiny holes in the HEV suit that were soon repaired. I hit the wall of the overturned bridge and lost my breath, but I was otherwise unscathed.

I thought the worst was over when the bridge fell onto the ice, but it proved to be too much to bear, and just as Alyx began to thank me for protecting her from the fall, the ice caved and we were plunged into the cold water.

My instincts told me to get the hell out of there, and I followed them at first- but just as I came to the window, the water rising above my head, I turned and saw Alyx floating limp in the water. I swam as fast as I could , chilled to the bone despite the HEV suit's best attempts to regulate my body temperature, praying I could get her out of the water before she died.

Holding her limp form over my shoulder, I pushed against the heavy water. I was nearly out of breath, and my swimming turned violent, my lungs burning more fiercely every minute. I took the biggest breath of my life when I finally managed to reach the surface, but I still didn't stop swimming. I pushed Alyx onto the ice, pushing myself down under the water again before I pulled myself up.

I saw she was still breathing and let the stale air out of my lungs. She was still out of it, though, so I carefully draped her over my shoulder again and pulled my pistol from my belt, along with a single flair. I kept a lookout for one of the strangely-marked helicopters as I trudged away from the Borealis, praying a stray bullet or a speeding airboat didn't cut me down.

Spotting a fleeing helicopter, I fired a flair in its path. The transport swerved to avoid it, then turned around. It hovered for a moment in the air then slowly came towards me. I could see our reflection in the tinted windshield. Alyx looked dead, and I looked not long for this world myself. After a tense few minute wait, it hovered just above the ice next to me. The door slid open and I saw a familiar face appear; it was Barney. He was clutching his arm just below the shoulder, and I saw the familiar stain of crimson blood just below his hand.

"Gordon! Thank god, I thought you might've drowned or- is that Alyx? Damnit, get it here!" he said as a bullet bounced off the windshield. I carefully obliged, lifting her into a seat in the helicopter and climbing in after her. The door shut behind me after I got in and suddenly the battle sounded far away.

"Hell, Gordon, she need a doctor. Her head's all cold and she's turning blue. Look, I'm no good in a fight right now- damn Combine got me in the arm. I'll make sure Alyx is okay, and you make sure those damn Combine don't get a hold of the Borealis." He said. I wouldn't have had time to object even if I wanted to. Within a few seconds we were hovering over the edge of the Borealis, Barney forcing me out the door. I looked to the stump of twisted metal where the bridge had been and figured I was on the port side, near the bow of the ship.

As if on cue, A Combine dropship pulled up to the ship 10 feet to my left- I tossed a grenade and jumped behind the nearest cargo container, bracing my arm to increase my accuracy. The grenade went off just after the first jumped out, sending him head-first into a container. The second man was propelled into the air, and the 3rd man fell between the dropship and the Borealis as the grenade pushed the giant creature back.

I fired at the creature's stomach, about where the metal troop carrier connected with its skin, and was surprised to see it sort of buck as another man attempted the jump. His left leg caught the edge of the ship, but the rest of him pulled it over the edge. The creature regained its compsosure for a minute, so I fired an energy ball at it. The ball bounced between the troop carrier and the creature's soft stomach, leaving bloody, burning marks with each bounce. The creature limped back over to the ship and miscalculated the height it needed for it to clear the edge- it hit the edge hard, and the front half of the troop carrier fell, pulling a large metal bar out of the creature's skin. I could see the other bar that held the carrier pulling its skin on the back of its stomach, and fired relentlessly, tearing up the skin. As my Assault Rifle automatically reloaded, the bar broke free and the metal carrier fell, breaking through the ice, sealing the combine inside to a watery grave.

I barely heard the faint sound of footsteps in between the sounds of battle and wheeled around. A Rebel was limping towards me, blood flowing freely from a hole in his leg. He had a Rocket Launcher propped on his shoulder, pointed at the floor.

"Doctor Freeman! Do-" he called, but was stopped mid-sentence as a combine assault copter gunned him down. The rifle spun around towards me, and grazed the back of my ankle. I ignored the pain and dove toward the Rebel's body. I grabbed the Launcher mid-roll and fired a shot as I stood. It seemed wildly off, but I quickly guided the laser back onto the helicopter, causing the rocket to swoop around and explode under the helicopter's cockpit. It didn't seem to do much damage to the helicopter, but it stilled spun out of control, presumably because I'd killed the pilot.

I went on the move towards the bridge, keeping my eye open for spare rockets. Most of the fighting was concentrated at the bow, so I thankfully didn't encounter any combine as I ran with a slight limp from the helicopter.

As I moved, I fired another rocket and guided it into a helicopter already preoccupied with an airboat below. The helicopter remained under control, but it stopped for a moment during which the Tao cannon tore up its propeller, causing it to crash into the Borealis and slid down, sending sparks in every direction as it ground against the hull.

I was out of rockets now, but it looked like the stream of helicopters had ceased. I stole a quick glance at the ice below, and was taken aback by the carnage. An airboat was there with half a rebel, a splotchy trail of blood lead up to the smoking remains. A helicopter had torn the cage apart, along with the unfortunate driver.

My limp went away as the HEV suit repaired the tissue on my ankle, and I decided the airboats would have to handle the rest of the helicopters, because I was out of rockets and tired of looking.

The starboard side of the ship was thick with fighting. I came up to the container maze and could hear the fight still raging on inside. Rather than make my way through, I jumped up and lifted myself on top of a container. Marking a path with my eyes, I sprinted along the top of the maze, surprising the few combine who managed to spot me before I got them. After ambushing a few small groups, they were watching the tops, and I was forced to jump down and assess the situation.

The sky was clear of helicopters, and the dropships had stopped. I heard a cheer from the back of the ship, and where one of the large beams of metal that had been part of the bridge before now held a makeshift, hole-filled flag with frayed edges and a few off-color patches. The flag was white, and bore a simple image of a human, colored in black in the center.

The battle was over. You couldn't walk more than 3 steps on the deck without stepping over a body, but even that was a small price to pay. Whatever weapon was aboard the ship was now just waiting for us to retrieve it.


	4. STASIS

Woo! 4th Chapter. I'm sure that's a landmark of some sort. Anyways, thanks for the reviews. If anyone's noticed, the chapters have shorted as I've hit a bit of writer's block. The next chapter, though, should be good and long, and you Alyx/Gordon fans will like it, I'm sure.

Also, don't be dissapointed when I don't upload 4 chapters every couple days. :P

--

I slowly walked to the back of the ship, careful not to disturb any of the bodies. I hoped whoever was in charge of the rebels was there. It was obvious these were not the same people who had liberated City 17. Their clothes were less ragged, and when they fought they were formidable, but wild and unruly. I noticed a few were wearing patches of green, with a yellow harp in the center, though I didn't know the significance of the symbol.

At the back of the ship, the rebels were celebrating, dancing around and yelling and shouting, in stark contrast to the Rebels I had fought with, who took the idea of breaking the bonds of a galaxy-spanning empire a bit more seriously. There voices were higher-pitched too, and they had accents. They weren't American, at least.

I tried to avoid their attention and find out who was in charge, but there I was recognized by one, and a crowd gathered around me, trapping me. They all threw questions at me as if I was a celebrity, and just when I thought I might collapse, a small, soft hand grabbed my wrist and pulled me through- it was Dr. Mossman. She looked ecstatic, just as she had when we first met, even with the pale bandage wrapped around her forehead.

"Gordon- I mean, Dr. Freeman! Thank god you're here, I need your help. I've been trying to open a channel with White Forest, but I don't know the frequency." She said, ushering me even further in the back of the ship.

There were two small tables set up here a few feet from each other. Seated at one was a rebel, receiving orders from someone on the other end of a radio. the other table had a pile of electronic equipment and a blank screen.

"I've got everything set up, but my communications officers was killed, and she was the only one who knew White Forest's channel."

She fiddled with the instruments a bit, then gestured for me to do the same. I turned the tuning dial to White Forest's frequency, and saw Dr. Kleiner's office. Lamarr was hopping about, and I couldn't help but grin as she knocked some pictures off a small cupboard next to the door.

Dr. Mossman looked worried, as if something had gone wrong. Her expression lightened when Dr. Kleiner's body appeared on screen. He had a disorganized mess of folders and papers in his arms, and looked to be in a hurry. He scanned the desk under the screen, and almost didn't notice us.

"Come on, Lamarr! We need to- Gordon! Judith! Oh, it's a good thing you caught me. The combine are attacking the base here en masse, and we're retreating. Almost everyone has already evacuated to the other outposts, as were we-" he began, shuffling the papers, when Judith interrupted him.

"The Borealis is safe, Doctor Kleiner. You can just come here now." She said, an air of triumph in her voice.

"Already? Gordon, wh- oh, I have to go! I'll see you two soon! Stay safe!" he said. Judith turned away, deep in thought, and I watched Doctor Kleiner attempt to coax Lamarr into her carrier, his arms still full of documents. Sighing in exasperation, he set down a good portion of the papers he was carrying and produced a small melon from his desk. Lamarr jumped on his head, and he took the opportunity to leave the room clumsily, closing the door behind him with his foot.

Judith turned off the screen and sat down in the chair with a yawn. I saw the discussion between the rebels on the radio on the other table was becoming heated, and their accents were amplified.

Then the shouting stopped. The celebrating stopped. The entire world stopped as a man in a blue business suit, carrying a briefcase at his side, walk towards me slowly. When he saw me look at him he stood still and a malevolent grin spread across his lips.

"A nice night isn't it, Mi-ster Freeman? A perrrrfect night for a… rest. As I said be-fore, I did not want… to imply that you've been sssleeping on- the job, so, for now… let's just say your job is com-plete." he said.

His eyebrows jumped up when he saw my look of anguish. "Of course, we could just… cal it e-ven now. I can't make… you do a thing, Mi-ster Freeman. My o-ffer still stands of a battle you can't poss-ibly hope… to win. That would be de-trimental to us both, though, and as a man… of sci-ence, I trust you have your… wits a-bout you. So shut your eyes, Mi-ster Freeman. Time… to sleep."

I didn't. I had had enough of being controlled and manipulated by the suited man. I glared holes in him, I held my heavy eyelids up against my subconscious, I even tried to get up and walk away from him, though I realized that he had rendered me immobile.

"What are you doing?" he asked, his eyebrows slanting inwards. "I can de-story you, Mr. Freeman. There are even… worse things than death. You've seen some of them your-self."

His threats wouldn't work on my. I held my eyelids up with my fingers and focused on the minute details in the wrinkles of his forehead to keep the sleep he forced on me from setting in.

"Alyx… Vance."

My eyes shot open of their own accord. I wanted to rip his tongue out for even saying her name, but I was nevertheless intrigued.

"If you will-not for your-self… then for her safe-ty I mussssst… urge you, Mi-ster Freeman, to close your eyes."

I knew if she was here she would have told me to keep my eyes open. To fight him for every inch. I could see, though, that he would do it. He would let me go and take her from me, and seal her away until everyone she had ever known was long dead, maybe just leave her in that state of arrested consciousness until the universe collapsed in on itself.

So I let them close. It was as if they sealed themselves shut, and even my best efforts couldn't get them to open again.

"Very good, Mi-ster Freeman."


	5. RELATIVE SAFETY

AN: Thanks again for the reviews, guys, they really keep me going. I've thankfully managed to devise the next 'arc' in the story that will occupy the next few chapters, so I should be able to chug-along for a bit before any writer's block sets in... :P

--

As I floated through the nothingness, spinning weightlessly, every second felt like a year. That was entirely possible of course. In the space of a few seconds a few decades could fly by in the real world, and I wouldn't even know about it until I got there.

Then, just like everything else in this state of non-death, I heard something happened suddenly. I heard humming far away. More of a murmur, but I could pick out that it had a tone to it. It got louder, closer, and, as I expected, the man in the suit was soon obstructing my field of vision. His face held an expression that betrayed his anguished thoughts; 'I thought this was taken care of'.

The Vortigaunts, glowing a deep purple and pink had surrounded him again, but now there were more than I'd ever seen- practically hundreds, their arms outstretched, swirling pools of energy held at their hands.

The blue-suit man's face was etched into my retinas as I awoke in a flash of light. An incredible shiver ran up my spine, causing me to convulse as if in a standing seizure. The air around me was cold, and my HEV suit started to boil me alive to make up for the cold. It soon settled back to a comfortable temperature as I took in my surroundings.

I was on the deck of the Borealis again. The snow was sticking to my hair in clumps, and the deck had iced-over again. I was at the back of the ship, behind the remains of the bridge. I could see a makeshift fortification had been built around it, with a few stationary guns, but no one was manning them. The deck was lifeless, and a lot of the cargo containers were gone.

For a second I thought that the Vortigaunts had come too late. Decades had passed and now I was stuck in the middle of nowhere. My heart jumped as a siren went off next to my head. A little speaker held aloft on a metal beam haphazardly welded to the deck.

Nearby there was a hole in the deck, apparently from an explosion of some sort. The metal was thick, and it looked to be intentional.

Suddenly a rebel sprung out of the hole like a rabbit- a rebel from City 17. He had an AR2 and a couple of grenades were clipped on his chest. He was about to kill me when he realized who I was. His eyes went wide, and his jaw-dropped. I was used to this kind of thing by now, though.

"Doctor Freeman?" he asked. I began to wonder just how long I'd been gone.

The siren went off again, and he looked to the skies worriedly.

"Come on down. We can't talk here." He said, and gestured toward the hole. I walked over and peered down, and could make out the shape of a make-shift ladder. I scrambled down quickly, eager to find out what had happened since my disappearance.

"Doctor Kleiner's office is just down this corrider. Take a right at the end, and then his office should be on your left a few feet down. I have to stay here, but you shouldn't have any trouble finding it." he said, and pressed a button on a panel on the wall, but I didn't stay to find out what it might do.

The halls were hot and murky. Every few feet was a huge vent, with a giant fan, all of which were inactive. I found the door to Doctor Kleiner's office and opened it with a sigh, expecting another ramshackle Rebel camp in a place with little or no comfort. For some reason the fact that the Rebel hadn't mentioned Alyx made me nervous too. Maybe the Vortigauts had failed to keep the Blue-suited man occupied? I didn't want to think about it. The last thing we needed now was to lose Alyx to some trans-dimensional being.

My sigh turned into a gasp as I laid eyes on Doctor Kleiner's office, causing me to cough and sputter just a bit. Much like the bridge, the room had white tiled floors, walls, and ceilings, as well as the computer and monitor from the bridge. The circle was zooming about the screen, a bright orange. Irritated I guessed.

When he heard the door open, Doctor Kleiner turned and he looked shocked, as shocked as he had through the view-screen the first time I had every come to City 17.

"Gordon! This- this is amazing! The Vortigaunts predicted you'd be in stasis for 20 years at least! Yet, here you are, a week later! I have to- Oh, I should tell Alyx! She'll be positively ecstatic!" he said, stopping and stuttering the whole way through, before turning to the hastily-built viewscreen above the desk, whose grungy gray exterior stood in stark contrast to the bright white room around it.

He reached around the side and messed around with the buttons and dials on the side until the screen turned on. It came to life for a moment, but soon it went out, shooting a spark out with it.

He let out a rather lifeless breath, and I understood how he must have felt. He wasn't exactly young anymore, and he constantly had to move around, hauling his valuable information around behind him. He grumbled a bit and hit the viewscreen's side with his palm, and started messing with the buttons on the side again. The screen turned on and this time stayed on, though it appeared that at any moment it might give out again.

"Hey. I recognize you." Came a voice from the monitor, as Doctor Kleiner tuned the viewscreen to Alyx's frequency. "You took my cake. You'll get yours."

Doctor Kleiner, finished with tuning the viewscreen, pressed a button on the monitor. The circle turned red, angry, but made no noise- it was muted.

On the screen I saw a room similar to the one I was in, but altered slightly. A bed had been moved in, and the sheets and blankets were rustled and unmade. Slept in recently. Then Alyx's head swung in from the left side of the screen, her eyes held open with a great amount of effort. She had been sleeping.

"Alyx! You'll never guess who's just arrived!" Doctor Kleiner said, his voice back to normal. She didn't seem to keen to make an attempt at first, but I saw her eyes glance towards me, then hang over me as they opened to their full extent. The corners of her mouth grew apart, and then she was gone.

Doctor Kleiner looked at the screen for a few minutes, confused. He turned back to me and was about to ask if he'd just imagined her or if she had, in fact, disappeared, when the door slammed open. I was instantly beset upon by whatever had broken in, and was knocked onto my back.

Alyx had tackled me in a hug, and though her cheek was digging painfully deep into mine, I didn't say anything. She made a sort of 'mmmm' sound, like a cat's purr, and when she finally brought her face away from my cheek her head seemed to catch on something, and her face hovered a few inches from mine. I could feel her breath on my nose, and I thought for a second that she might kiss me.

Then she awkwardly stumbled to her feet, and was about to give me a hand when Doctor Kleiner chuckled a bit. Alyx gave him a puzzled look, then her eyes shot to directly behind my head. I was startled when a headcrab grasped my face firmly, and I flopped around in a panic. I could hear Alyx and Doctor Kleiner laughing and I realized it was Lamarr. I pulled her off my head and threw her at Doctor Kleiner, who caught her mid jump, as I'm sure he was accustomed to doing. Having a headcrab would train a person quite well against the real thing, I'd assume.

"Oh, I've forgotten to feed her. I'm sorry Gordon." He said, still chuckling. I slowly pulled myself up and wiped my face off with my hands.

"Come on, let me show you around the ship." Alyx said, grabbing my hand and leading me out of the room. Doctor Kleiner said something just as the door closed, but I couldn't here it.

Just as before the hallway was warm, and I could see Alyx wipe the rapidly-accumulating beads of sweat from her forehead, using the makeshift cast she wore on her right wrist, before gesturing towards a door as we passed.

"That's Doctor Mossman's office." She said, without stopping. I wondered if she was actually busy, or if Alyx was simply avoiding her. I couldn't blame her, though, as the only real emotional tie they held was dead. I'm sure they only reminded each other of Eli.

We kept walking for a few minutes, before we turned and came to a staircase. We went down more flights of stairs than I cared to count, and by the time we came to the bottom we were both panting like dogs. We didn't stop, however, as she assured me were close.

We finally reached the room, and I had trouble grasping what I was seeing. The room we were in, by itself, wasn't much. It was more of an L-shaped hallway, that first jutted to the left then went straightforward again. It had windows however, which would seem strange on any surface other than the hull in a ship. Here, though, they allowed the viewing of the chamber through which the hallway sat. I could barely make out the top, and the hazy mist in the room made seeing the far wall impossible. It looked as if it stretched into infinity and further.

In the center stood a giant chamber that stretched all the way to the top of the room, and connected at the base with the room we were in. Alyx gave a smug little laugh as if finding an enormous room in the middle of a lost tanker in the Arctic Ocean was a normal experience for her.

"C'mon." She said, and led the way around the corner toward the room. The door was round, and decorated to make it look even more high-tech than it was, and after a moment it slid open slowly.

The massive room appeared even bigger from the inside. There were a few men here in lab coats. At the center of the room hung a big jumble of wires and cables and pieces of protective plastic, but it hung a good 20 feet above the ground. While it appeared rectangular from the outside, the interior was actually cylindrical, as if it were made to fit around whatever had been built there. It appeared that the bottom portion of the jumble of wires had been sort of torn or burned off.

One of the scientists was on a large ladder, extended to its full length, leaning on the hanging equipment. It wasn't a flat surface, and even the slightest movement made it look like it might topple. Another was in a small booth, whose black exterior was chipping away, like rust without the color. There was a pedestal with a large red button, but pressing it had no visible effect on anything nearby. At the far end of the room there was a hole in the ground that led to another room, though there didn't appear to be a simple way to move into and out of said room.

"Neat, huh?" she said, putting her hands on her hips and looking up. "Doctor Kleiner thinks it's for a missile or a bomb. If you look on the floors above the room, though, it looks like the floor was repaired. Like something tore a hole through the whole ship. I think it was for research- maybe experimenting with an unstable chemical, and the explosion was somehow concentrated upwards."

I looked up, but was knocked over as the ship shook- it felt like an explosion had occurred on the deck. I looked at Alyx, who didn't seem worried.

"The Combine have been pounding the ship for days. They want whatever is here so badly that they aren't willing to hurt the ship itself, so we just have to shut off the few entrances to the deck. That's where most of the power is going, so we can't cool the halls. They'll cool down themselves eventually, but it's strange that they were kept warm this whole time in the first place."

She kept going, talking about all the oddities on the ship, and her own hypotheses behind them, her eyes pointed up as if she had scribbled them all on the ceiling and couldn't remember. My mind wandered back to the near-kiss in Doctor Kleiner's office. As much as I would have liked for it to move past a 'near-kiss', I knew that I wouldn't have let it. The blue-suited man could break free from the Vortigaunts' hold at any moment, and if he did then Alyx could be in as much danger as me, even more-so had she gone through with it.

A little radio clipped to the back of Alyx's belt began making some noises, before Barney's voice started to emanate from it.

"Alyx, you there? Over." He said. She quickly pulled it, the clip making a snap as it closed on itself.

"Yep." She replied simply. There was a slight pause, and I saw her grin a little as Barney started to talk.

"How many times do I have to tell you, Alyx, you gotta' say 'over' so I know you're done talkin'!" he said, and even through the radio I could tell he was cranky. He had probably been up for too long, ensuring the ship was safe. He continued with a sigh.

"Anyways, we need you up here in the security office. Doc's got a job for you two, over."

Alyx muttered an affirmation, followed by a mumbled 'over', and set off in the direction from which we had come.


	6. THE BEST LAID PLANS

The security room looked a lot like the offices, with white metal tiles on the floor and walls, and a smooth white ceiling

The security room looked a lot like the offices, with white metal tiles on the floor and walls, and a smooth white ceiling. It was slightly larger than any of the other offices, but it was still just an office originally. Now it had maps and radios and weapons piled high in every corner. There wasn't much room for more than 4 people, which made it awkward for the 6 of us who were there.

Alyx and I were standing next to a pair of the green-clad rebels who had helped take the ship in the first place, and I still didn't know who they were. Doctor Kleiner was at a map, marking a route across some two-dimensional cliffs to a box labeled 'Combine Prison', and I almost let out a groan. Despite the arrogance of the statement, I almost mentioned that after the Citadel, another Combine Encampment seemed more of a job for the other rebels. I kept my mouth shut, though, as I knew Doctor Kleiner had to have a reason for it.

Doctor Kleiner finished, putting a cap on the marker he was using, and turned around. "That's all, you can go." He said to the rebels, who left the room. Suddenly the office was much more spacious.

"Alyx, Gordon, we don't have much time to prepare, so I'll go quick. We were very lucky that the Vortigaunts were able to free Gordon from the grasp of our 'friend'", he said, turning to face us, "But like before he will break their hold on him as soon as he can, which I fear may not be far in the distance."

He turned back to the map before continuing. "This:" he said, pointing at the box "is the former HMP Cardiff, now a Combine Vortigaunt processing facility. Early on during the initial combine invasion, many of the Vortigaunts broke free, which caused the Combine to greatly tighten security. We're about to change that, though."

I looked to Alyx, on my left, who didn't seem to be paying attention. The two of them must have already gone over the plan.

"Our friends from City 32 are going to attack the prison en masse, and once they've begun you two are to make your way to the Combine suppression field emitter and destroy it. Until you do, any of the Vortigaunts in the complex who attempt to leave will suffer pain and eventually death."

He turned back to face us again, and I could easily make out the pink bags under his eyes. Hopefully we could take some pressure off of the Borealis with this attack, though if I knew the Combine at all, they were more concerned with those of us who had had a hand in the destruction of the City 17 Citadel then any other group for the moment.

"With the help of the previously imprisoned Vortigaunts, it may be possible to hold off our 'friend' indefinitely, and we can really take to the fight to the Combine." He made a fist at the end to express his point, but it wasn't needed. The thought of pushing the Combine from Earth, maybe even giving them a taste of their own medicine was exhilarating beyond the scope mere words could express.

Alyx picked up a Combine assault rifle from one of the weapon piles and tossed one to me. She picked up another then turned back as Doctor Kleiner finished the briefing.

"We've got a hovercraft. Its small and god forbid you run into any real resistance- well, you shouldn't. Once the City 32 Rebels have commenced their attack, most if not all of the patrols should return to the prison, giving you a chance to get through and shut down the field. The hovercraft is on the deck, but there won't be enough time to use the crane."

Alyx's head snapped back towards Doctor Kleiner, who looked as if he might fall asleep standing up.

"So we're just supposed to drive over and pray we land right-side up?" Alyx said, incredulously. Her face turned to worry as Doctor Kleiner nodded.

"The crane isn't fast enough, you'd be caught in between the Combine attacks. As long as you don't do anything to purposefully flip it, the hovercraft should keep itself upright."

Alyx was about to protest, but saw it was futile. There really was no other way, and we both knew Doctor Kleiner wouldn't put us in any unnecessary risk. Seeing Doctor Kleiner was finished, Barney stopped digging through the gun pile and began to leave.

"They should be giving up on the attack any minute now, so we don't have a lot of time. C'mon." he said, opening the door. Beads of sweat immediately began to form on his forehead as he entered the stifling hallway, reflecting the light from the room we had just left.

Barney lead Alyx and I to a seeming dead-end, before pushing a button on the wall- much like the one I had seen the Rebel push just before I had come on the ship. The wall made a few mechanical clicks and whirrs, and then slid to the side, where it fit perfectly in its groove.

We climbed up on to the deck, and made our slippery way to the back of the ship, our bodies disoriented by the sudden shift in temperature. At the ship's rear, Barney pulled a crowbar from his belt and pried open one of the container doors, and inside was a hovercraft. It looked vaguely like the frame of a two-seater airboat stuck on a flat balloon, with a plasma rifle mounted to the frame in front of the passenger seat. Before he turned to leave, Barney handed the crowbar to me and gave me a look I didn't need explained; 'Hold on to it.'

I began to climb onto the hovercraft, into the driver's seat but was surprised to find a body already occupying it.

"I'm driving this time, Gordon. Get on the gun." She said authoritatively, as if the fact that she had gotten into the driver's seat before me entitled me to follow her rule. I did as she told, though, as the ocean crossing might afford me a bit of rest if I didn't have to drive.

She slowly backed the craft out of the container and turned, steering us towards the edge of the deck. I felt that feeling I felt when D0g threw us into the citadel inside the van, just as the metal below us lurched, about to send us on a brief roller-coaster ride through the bowels of the Citadel.

Alyx drove quickly over the edge in hope of keeping the hovercraft upright. At every moment in the fall it felt like the slightest movement might cause our vehicle to flip over and drown us just below the Borealis- but thankfully, that didn't happen. With a soft 'fop' we hit the water, and immediately sped off into the night. The sting of the microscopic shards of ice cutting into my cheeks made it feel like we were flying at unfathomable speeds, when in reality we weren't making entirely good time at all. Luckily, the engine was right behind the seats, providing plenty of warmth. I fell asleep just as it started warming up, but my dreams were far from comforting.


	7. DREAMSCAPE

Sorry for taking so long with this one. I actually finished it awhile ago, but I haven't been on my laptop to upload in awhile. As I'm sure many of you know, a game called GTA IV just came out, and I can't tear myself away. Anyways, this was written almost entirely in one long session from 12:00-3:00 one morning, so I wouldn't be surprised if it's rife with spelling errors and overall pretty bizarre.

--

It was a lot like being taken by the blue-suited man, dreaming aboard the hovercraft as it slid across the surface of the ocea

It was a lot like being taken by the blue-suited man, dreaming aboard the hovercraft as it slid across the surface of the ocean. Unlike that stasis, though, I couldn't tell when I was dreaming- obviously, I would know when I woke up, but while I was experiencing it my mind had me convinced that all the strange sensations shooting through my nerves were just stimuli of the events transpiring around me.

I felt warmth on my back, the engine in reality, but in my dreamscape when I managed to spin myself around, there was a fire, shooting from the mouth of what looked like some combination of an Angler fish's teeth stuck on the mouth of a gulper eel, and a large bear with a hunched back, walking on its hind legs. The whole thing had a black, hardened crust that pointed into horns all over its body, but at some points it was chipped away, revealing tender red flesh that exuded a minor yet malevolent glow.

Its eyes were black and shiny, and seemed to shift constantly, taking in the nothingness in which we floated. They protruded from its head in a way that made it seem as if its creator had stuck them on as an afterthought.

In the dream, we were both instantly moved into a dark pit, and though I recognize that my imagination transported us both in the middle of it all, it seemed as if we had been in the pit the whole time while I was asleep.

The pit floor was a good 30 feet below the surface of wherever we were, and it was rough, suggesting that if it hadn't been used much. To my left I saw a table with what appeared to be weapons, though in the large space of the pit, I couldn't be entirely sure. If I ran straight to the table, the monster, which was facing me, could easily kill me with a quick attack to his immediate right.

It lumbered slowly towards me as I determined how best to go about evading the beast, when I saw a small bit of the crusty black skin chipped off on the top of his shoulder. We both looked quizzically at his shoulder, where a bit of bright red liquid was spilling through the small hole and dripping down his shoulder. I was almost as astounded at what I saw floating behind the monster.

Unlike the monster, which seemed to have needless limbs stuck on here and there, the floating thing seemed almost simplistic. It was humanoid, but it wasn't human. It was like a robot, with a shiny gray sheen, and out of its back sprouted angelic wings. It was wearing human clothes, and somehow, without anyone telling me, I knew it was Alyx. It was just one of those things that you automatically have knowledge of in your dreams.

It was holding a small white bar in its hand, pointed at the monster-thing's shoulder. I wasn't sure what was going on, so I ran as fast as I could towards the table, praying that one of the objects was a self-pinching apparatus so I could wake up.

Reach it took a while. The ground wasn't wet, yet I couldn't get any traction on it. As fast as I run, my feet just sort of slid over the ground for most of it, propelling me towards my target very slowly.

When I finally reached the table, I was pleasantly surprised. Each of the objects looked capable of single-handedly fighting a thermo-nuclear war. I reached for one of the smaller ones, a crossbow that fired some sort of capsule, or maybe simply propelled the ammunition with so much force that they needn't be sharpened.

As I was leveling the crossbow-device with the fish-bear monster, it turned from its fight with robo-Alyx and ran towards me with frightening speed. My instincts kicked in and I fired a shot that, had it been a normal crossobow round would have soared through the monster's large open mouth and pierced the back of its throat. However, around halfway towards reaching its target, the bolt disappeared in a small puff of smoke.

I thought I would surely be gored by one of the monster's tusk-like teeth, when suddenly, where the bolt had been appeared a swordfish, flying point-first towards the fish monster. The swordfish connected, pinching a part of the monster's open mouth flap to the back of its mouth. It stopped for a moment before pulling the swordfish out. Its eyes spun around, looking for robo-Alyx before throwing it like a javelin at her. It caught her in the forearm and continued through the wall of the pit, trapping her there, then turned back to me.

As it advanced menacingly, I looked back at the table. There weren't anymore crossbow bolts, so I picked up a thing that looked like a rocket launcher. The barrel was wide enough to launch a watermelon, and when I lifted it up I found it was too heavy for me to sensibly wield.

"Hey!" I shouted at Robo-Alyx, who was still pinned to the wall, trying desperately to free herself. Her head turned to face me, and her arm reached towards the gun. I thought at first that she expected me to lug it over to her, an idea I wasn't too keen on. Then her arm shot out of its socket, the hand open. It clamped down on the gun then the whole thing jerked backwards toward her on a thin metal cable. She shouldered the gun with relative ease and didn't hesitate in firing.

My eyesight went neon green, and everything became hot again. Then it turned cold. That was when I woke up, slightly startled. The engine had ceased running and already was cooling. I was about to ask Alyx why we were stopped when she put a hand over my mouth to silence me.

We were nearly surrounded by Combine Scanners. They had somehow managed to miss us and were floating over the water, flashing their lights into the depths of the ocean. The coast was just ahead, and the City 32 rebels hadn't started their attack, judging from the pervading silence all around.

Alyx took her hand from my mouth and reached down, pulling a small piece of driftwood that had washed into the hovercraft from the floor. Moving slowly, she turned around in her seat on her knees, so that her head stuck out of the top of the hovercraft. It was still dark, but the night was beginning to fade now, so she threw the piece of wood as smoothly as it could. She pulled her Assault Rifle into her arms and aimed down at the driftwood. I did the same.

The scanners quickly moved to the driftwood and did what they did best: scanning. We opened fired at he same time, and after a short few bursts of fire, the parts of a good 10 scanners at least were slowly sinking through the water.

It seemed suspicious that the scanners had been there, and Alyx seemed to think so too, as I could see her thinking deeply as she fired the hovercraft up. Someone could have betrayed us again, and that would mean we'd have a handful of Combine in a few minutes if the Cardiff wasn't attacked before then.

It was a short drive from the coast to the nearest rebel hide-out, and much of the scenery here was quaint. In some few pockets of nothingness, it was almost as if the Combine had never even attacked. There was always something though, a man with a headcrab grafted to his face and his guts spilling out, or a little block of houses full of holes from Combine mortars.

We were driving through a large grassy field, a few sheep sprinkled about and a partially torn-down barn when the hovercraft suddenly began to slow. I thought at first that we were running out of gas, or that the engine had failed. But when the sky began to turn dark, despite the coming morning, and a distinct lack of noise at all from Alyx confirmed to me what was occurring.


End file.
